Mexico's Supreme Court strikes a fatal blow against marijuana prohibition, medical marijuana is now available by prescription in the United Kingdom, a Colorado jury rejects an effort to blow up the state's legal marijuana system, and more.

[image:1 align:left]Marijuana Policy

Colorado Federal Jury Throws Out RICO Case Threatening State Marijuana Law. That didn't take long. A Denver federal court jury took only a few hours Wednesday to reach a verdict against a couple who claimed a marijuana cultivation operation was ruining their property values and threatening their lifestyle. The couple, aided by anti-marijuana attorneys, had attempted to use federal RICO statutes to undermine the state law, arguing that because marijuana is still federally illegal, its production violates federal racketeering laws. But the jury didn't buy it.

Drug Testing

Wisconsin Governor's Plan to Require Drug Testing for Medicaid Rejected. The federal Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services has rejected a proposal from Gov. Rick Scott (R) to require drug testing as a condition for receiving Medicaid benefits. Walker had proposed several changes to the state program, known as BadgerCare, and the administration approved requiring childless adults to work or lose coverage, but not the proposed drug testing. Instead of requiring drug screening and testing, Medicaid applicants will now have to complete a health assessment with questions about drug use. If the assessment indicates concerns about drug use, the applicant will be referred to treatment, but not required to go.

Harm Reduction

New York City Legislation Would Expand Opioid Treatment at Homeless Shelters. City Councilman Stephen Levin (D-Brooklyn) Wednesday filed legislation to increase access to opioid treatment at city homeless shelters. The bill would allow for easier access "We can't continue to sit by and do nothing," said Levin. "As we've seen in New York City and throughout the country, the status quo is not working. People are overdosing on opioids every day in New York City -- more than homicides and traffic fatalities combined."

International

Mexico Supreme Court Strikes Down Marijuana Prohibition. In a pair of rulings Wednesday, the Supreme Court of Mexico ruled that the country's ban on marijuana violates individual autonomy protections in the Mexican constitution. The court said adults have the right to grow, possess, and use marijuana, but that the government retains the right to regulate consumption. It also directed the federal health agency to begin to develop regulations reflecting the decision. The ruling does not legalize marijuana commerce; it would be up to the Mexican congress to take up that issue.

Medical Marijuana Now Legal in Great Britain. As of Thursday, November 1, some medical marijuana patients will be able to legally seek and obtain their medicine. Legal access to medical marijuana will be limited to patients who have "an unmet special clinical need that cannot be met by licensed products." It will be up to a special panel to determine who meets that condition, but there are worries that the system may prove too unwieldy to satisfy the needs of hundreds of thousands of potential patients.

The Michigan marijuana initiative still has a healthy lead as Election Day nears, the FDA has granted "breakthrough therapy" status for psilocybin for treatment-resistant depression, and more.

[image:1 align:right caption:true]Marijuana Policy

Michigan Poll Has Legalization Initiative With Comfortable Lead. A new Detroit Free Press poll has the Proposal 1 legalization initiative favored by a margin of 57% to 41%. That's nearly unchanged from the previous Detroit Free Press poll in September, which had the issue winning 56% to 41%. "Even though there are some law-enforcement groups and others that are putting out information against the proposal, it seems to have pretty solid support," the pollsters noted. "There has always been a perception that there are far too many people in jail for a minimal amount of use and that it prohibits the police from spending time on more serious crimes."

Michigan Marijuana Foes Spending Big Bucks. The organized opposition to Proposal 1, known as Healthy and Productive Michigan, has collected more than $1 million in the past quarter, nearly double the $529,000 raised by the Coalition to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol Coalition, which is leading the "yes" campaign. The opposition still has $600,000 in the bank, which it is using for a series of cable TV ads. But the polling suggests the ads aren't working. Smart Approaches to Marijuana (SAM) ponied up more than $600,000 to defeat the measure, while executives from DTE Energy have donated more than $300,000.

Oregon County's Lawsuit Challenging State Legalization Thrown Out. A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit from Josephine County contending that federal law criminalizing marijuana preempts the state's law allowing commercial production and sales. US District Court Judge Michael McShane ruled last Thursday that cities and counties don't have standing to sue a state in federal court. The county has not yet decided whether it will appeal the ruling.

FDA Grants "Breakthrough Therapy" Status for Psilocybin to Treat Depression. The Food & Drug Administration (FDA) has granted Breakthrough Therapy status to psilocybin -- the psychedelic ingredient in magic mushrooms -- for use in treating depression after early experimental results showed promise. The designation allows the FDA to expedite research and review of psilocybin-based treatments. It is aimed specifically at a Phase IIb trial currently underway investigating the optimal dose range for psilocybin used for severe treatment-resistant depression.

A new poll has marijuana legalization on the cusp of majority support even in Wyoming, the New York state Senate releases its report on the state's opioid crisis, and more.

[image:1 align:left caption:true]Marijuana Policy

New Jersey Marijuana Activists Urges Quick Action on Legalization. As the governor and the legislature work to find an agreement on a marijuana legalization bill, legalization supporters are growing impatient. "There's been hearings, there's been committee meetings, there's a lot of discussions, there's a lot of science behind it but right now it's getting very frustrating," said. New Jersey CannaBusiness Association President Scott Rudder. "We understand the process takes time -- but enough is enough. "We need to get past this, we need to resolve some of these issues. It's very frustrating." Gov. Phil Murphy (D) had called for legalization within 90 days of his January inauguration, then it was supposed to be voted on this month, and the latest is by year's end. Stay tuned.

Wyoming Poll Has Legalization on Cusp of Majority Support. A new poll from the Wyoming Survey and Analysis Center at the University of Wyoming shows nearly half of Wyoming residents -- 49 percent -- support legalization of marijuana for recreational use. That number is significantly higher when the question comes to medical marijuana, with 86 percent supporting legalization in that form. And 69 percent of residents think possession of a small amount of the drug shouldn't lead to jail time. The poll also notes that there has been a a statistically significant increase in positive views on marijuana legalization compared to polls from 2014 and 2016.

Heroin and Prescription Opioids

New York Senate Heroin Task Force Releases Recommendations, Findings in New Report. The State Senate Task Force on Heroin and Opioid Addiction on Wednesday released its 2017-2018 report, including 11 recommendations on ways the state should address the opioid crisis. The committee wants the state to create "Centers for Excellence on Substance Use Disorder" as a way to improve access to treatment in rural parts of the state, as well as increasing resources to healthcare workers trained to treat substance abuse disorders. The task force also calls for reducing the cost of Naloxone, limits on opioid prescriptions, and tougher penalties for dealers whose drug sales result in fatal overdoses.

International

Russia Moves Toward Allowing Medicinal Opium Planting. A government commission has approved a draft law that would allow the cultivation of opium for medicinal purposes, citing the fact that most legal medicinal opium producing countries are participating in sanctions against Russia. "It is proposed to abolish the existing ban and determine the order of cultivation of plants for the production for medical purposes and veterinary medicine of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances," the government press service reported.

Congress sends an omnibus opioids bill to the president's desk, the DEA has another Colombia scandal, the San Francisco police and Los Angeles sheriff's deputies face charges of racial profiling, and more.

[image:1 align:left caption:true]Medical Marijuana

Florida Judge Blocks Medical Marijuana License Process. A Tallahassee judge Wednesday agreed to block state health officials from moving forward with the application process for medical marijuana licenses. Leon County Circuit Court Judge Charles Dodson two months ago had found the state's licensing cap "directly contradicts" the amendment legalizing medical marijuana in the state and had set a Wednesday deadline for either health officials or the legislature to resolve deficiencies in the law. When that didn't happen, Dodson issued a verbal order halting the application process.

Senate Overwhelmingly Approves Sweeping Opioids Bill. The Senate Wednesday approved a sweeping opioids package on a 98-1 vote. The bill now goes to the desk of President Trump. The omnibus opioids bill combines dozens of smaller proposals and expands and reauthorizes programs and policies across the federal government, as well as creating new programs aimed at treatment, prevention, and recovery. One portion of the bill likely to have a big impact requires US postal inspectors to screen packages shipped from overseas -- mainly from China -- for fentanyl. The bill passed the House last week.

Law Enforcement

DEA Colombia Staff Facing Three Separate Misconduct Probes. At least three DEA agents based in Bogota have left in recent months amid separate investigations into alleged misconduct. One is accused of using government resources to hire prostitutes. Ironically, that agent, Robert Dobrich, the agency's top-ranking official in Latin American, was brought in in 2015 in the wake of a scandal about agents participating in sex parties with prostitutes. A former DEA agent assigned to Colombia, Jose Irizarry, is being investigated for passing information on to drug cartels. Irizarry resigned after his activities in Cartagena were curtailed earlier this year. Meanwhile, Dobrich's deputy, Jesse Garcia, is accused of having a sexual relationship with a subordinate.

ACLU Sues San Francisco Police Over Racially Motivated Drug Arrests. The ACLU of Northern California has filed a lawsuit on behalf of six black people arrested during anti-drug operations in the Tenderloin between 2013 and 2015. The six were among 37 arrested in the stings -- every one of whom was black -- and federal public defenders raised concerns over selective enforcement. The lawsuit cites a survey of Tenderloin drug users that found about half were black, but 20% were Latino and 17% were white. Charges against 12 of those arrested were dropped in January 2017 after a judge found there was "substantial evidence suggestive of racially selective enforcement, but the dropping of the charges meant a full accounting of police misconduct never happened.

Los Angeles County Deputies Accused of Racially Profiling Hispanics in I-5 Traffic Stop Drug Searches. LA County deputies stopped thousands of Latinos on the I-5 freeway in hopes of making their next drug bust, the Los Angeles Times reported Thursday. The sheriff's Domestic Highway Enforcement Team seized lots of drugs, but it also searched the vehicles of more than 3,500 drivers who had no drugs or other illegal items, the overwhelming majority of them Latino. Some of the teams' drug busts have been thrown out of federal court as the credibility of deputies came under fire and judges found they violated the rights of motorists by conducting unconstitutional searches. The Times examined data from every traffic stop done by the team from 2012 through 2017 -- more than 9,000 of them -- and found that Latinos accounted for 69% of stops, and that two-thirds of Latinos had their vehicles searched, compared to less than half of other drivers. Though Latinos were much more likely to be searched, deputies found drugs or other illegal items in their vehicles at a rate that was not significantly higher than that of black or white drivers. The sheriff's department said racial profiling "plays no role" in the deputies' work.

International

Canada Drug User, Advocacy Groups Call for Opioid Decriminalization. Some 93 groups representing drug users assembled in Edmonton this week have called for the federal government to move toward decriminalizing opioids. The coalition is calling for Ottawa to expand legal access to safe drugs for people with substance use disorder, decriminalize possession of all drugs for personal use, and expand the availability of harm reduction services.

The drug czar's office tells a US senator a multi-agency review of marijuana will be "objective," protestors target Rep. Andy Harris over his opposition to allowing medical marijuana to treat opioid addiction, Ohio regulators take a first step toward banning kratom, and more.

[image:1 align:right caption:true]Marijuana Policy

White House Vows Objective Marijuana Study, Colorado Senator Says. Sen. Michael Bennett (D-CO) said Monday that the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP -- the drug czar's office) has offered assurances that a federal marijuana policy panel will be objective and dispassionate as it reviews the impact of legalization in some states. The request for assurance came after Buzzfeed last month reported that the panel had asked 14 federal agencies and the DEA to submit "data demonstrating the most significant negative trends" about marijuana and its national "threat."

Michigan Bill to Ban Marijuana-Infused Alcohol Drinks Goes to Governor's Desk. The House on Tuesday approved House Bill 4668, which would bar the use, possession or sale of marijuana-infused beer, wine, liquor, and mixed drinks. That was the final legislative vote on the bill. The House had approved it earlier, then the Senate amended it, and now the House has approved those changes. The bill now goes to the desk of Gov. Rick Snyder (R). Foes of the bill say it addressed a problem that doesn't exist.

Medical Marijuana

Protestors Target Rep. Andy Harris Over Opposition to Using Medical Marijuana as Opioid Treatment. Red-capped protestors affiliated with the marijuana reform group DCMJ protested outside the office doors of Rep. Andy Harris (R-MD) Tuesday. DCMJ said the protestors were there to protest his opposition to using medical marijuana as a treatment for the opioid crisis. After Harris refused to meet with them, as fellow protestors waved signs accusing Harris of working for "Big Pharma," two women laid down in the hallway to represent friends who had fatally overdosed. One of the women was temporarily handcuffed. The smell of marijuana wafted through the air. Harris later complained that: "Today's aggression by protesters who disagree with my position on the legalization of recreational marijuana demonstrates the problem with political discourse today. We all must agree to have a civilized debate when disagreement occurs. My parents fled communist Eastern Europe where people with different political opinions were harassed and punished, and it has no place in America."

Kratom

Ohio Moves to Ban Kratom. The state Board of Pharmacy voted Monday to classify kratom as a Schedule I controlled substance after it concluded that the drug has no accepted medical use, a high potential for abuse, and is a public health risk. The Monday vote begins a months-long process of approving new rules and regulations for kratom. The board has already received more than 1,500 comments about the proposed ban, mostly in opposition. Six other states and the District of Columbia have banned kratom: Alabama, Arkansas, Indiana, Vermont, Rhode Island and Wisconsin. The board is accepting the first round of comments until October 18 at Contact@pharmacy.ohio.gov.

International

Jamaica Makes First Shipment of Medical Marijuana Extract to Canada. A shipment of medical marijuana extract oil has left Jamaica on route to Canada. The shipment was authorized through an import permit issued by the Canadian government via Health Canada and an export permit authorized by the Jamaican Ministry of Health. The shipment is the first step in Jamaica's bid to become a medical marijuana hub for the world.